1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic photo-optical system capable of surveying the external outline any kind of object and transform it into a set of Cartesian coordinates (x,y,z); transmitting the mathematical data of these geometries via networks both to a personal computer (to realize a three-dimensional graphical representation of the object and render possible the further processing of its geometry by means of three-dimensional, computer-assisted design, CAD 3D) and directly to an on-line device of the fax-reproducer type for the reproduction in plastic, composite or papery material of the volume of the surveyed object, in an automatic manner and in accordance with a predetermined logic, composite material being here understood as referring to a material obtained by the union of at least two components having chemical and physical characteristics such as to render them different, insoluble and capable of being separated from each other.
2. Prior Art
The prior art relating to the transformation in a personal computer of the outline of any kind of surveyed and digitalized object into the external surface of a three-dimensional (3D) virtual object consists principally of the use of lasers and feelers for determining the space coordinates of the object or three-dimensional reconstruction by means of the acquisition of images from video cameras and video projectors.
The prior art relating to the realization of an object in plastic material or other material by means of data obtained from a CAD 3D system comprises principally the use of lasers and milling cutters; rapid prototyping like stereolithography (SLA); laser sintering (SLS); the LOM method; the FDM method, the 3DP method; the SGC method. Furthermore, the prior art comprises the device for thermoforming, digitalizing and reproducing the external surface of an object in three-dimensions, virtually and/or in thermoformable plastic material, object of Italian Patent Application No. MI 2003 A 000177 and International Application No. PCT/EP 04/00855, in which an integrated module for the calculation and management of information technology (IT) data, a scanner module and a reproduction module are capable of thermoforming external surfaces of objects from panels (sheets) of thermoformable plastic material without having to rely on negative or positive moulds, carrying out 3D scannings of pre-existing objects taken as model, translating them into the external surfaces of virtual objects that can be processed by means of CAD 3D programs, carrying out operations of remote reproduction by means of 3D fax of previously digitalized surfaces or surfaces of objects designed by means of CAD 3D and conserved in a data base, in the form of surfaces of objects thermoformed in thermoplastic material.